Grammar to Go: The Portable A - Zed Guide to Canadian Usage

By Rob Colter

Fully revised and expanded, this new edition of Rob Colter's bestseller provides straightforward solutions in three sections: Grammar and Style, Punctuation, and Spelling and Common Confusions. Within each section the entries are alphabetically arranged for easy reference.

This is an indispensable grammar guide that should be in every Canadian's backpack, briefcase, or handbag.

• Language: English
• Publisher: House of Anansi Press
• Release date: Oct 1, 2005
• ISBN: 9780887848599

Rob Colter

Rob Colter has taught writing courses at many colleges and universities. He is currently a professor at Seneca College, Toronto.

Book preview

Grammar to Go: The Portable A-Zed Guide to Canadian Usage, by Rob ColterGrammar to Go: The Portable A-Zed Guide to Canadian Usage (3rd Edition), by Rob Colter. Published by House of Anansi.

Copyright © 1978, 1981, 2005 Rob Colter

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be

reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,

electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording,

or any information storage and retrieval system, without

permission in writing from the publisher.

First published in 1978 by House of Anansi Press Ltd.

Revised edition published in 1981 by House of Anansi Press Ltd.

Third edition published in 2005 by House of Anansi Press Inc.

110 Spadina Avenue, Suite 801, Toronto, ON, M5V 2K4

Tel. [phone] Fax [phone] www.anansi.ca

LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION DATA

Colter, Rob, 1945–

Grammar to go : the portable A-Zed guide to Canadian usage/

Rob Colter. — 3rd ed.

ISBN 0-88784-723-4

1. English language — Grammar. I. Title.

PE1112.C58 2004    428.2    C2004-905558-5

Cover design: Bill Douglas at The Bang

Cover photograph: Getty Images/Brand X Pictures

Text design and typesetting: Tannice Goddard

Logos: Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council

We acknowledge for their financial support of our publishing

program the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council,

and the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing

Industry Development Program (BPIDP).

CONTENTS

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Preface to the Third Edition

Acknowledgements

GRAMMAR AND STYLE

Admit

Adverbs (Go Slow)

Among/Between

Amount/Number

Apostrophe

As Far As . . . Concerned

Beg the Question

Being

Capitalization

Collective Nouns (Couple Is/Are)

Conditional Mood (If I Would Have Known)

Dangling Modifiers

Dead Rules

Documenting Sources

Double Negatives

Either . . . or/Neither . . . nor

E-mail

Euphemisms

Hopefully

If/Whether

I Myself Think

Inclusive Language

Indirect/Direct Speech

Issues

Latin Abbreviations

Latin Phrases

Less/Fewer

Like/As

Likewise

Lists

Literal/Figurative

Malapropism/Oxymoron

Me/Myself (and I)

Negative Prefixes

Never Did It

Numbers

Off Of

Parallelism

Parts of Speech

Passive Voice

Phobias

Plurals (Brothers-in-law)

Possessive Case (Boss’s)

Prefixes

Prepositions (Oblivious of)

Run-on Sentences

Sentence Fragments

Simile/Metaphor

Still/Yet

Subject-Pronoun Agreement

(Everyone Knows His/Her, Their)

Subjunctive Mood (If I Were)

These Kind of Things

Threes

Titles

Unwitting Shifts

Vagueness/Ambiguity

Who/Which/That

Who/Whom

Will/Shall

Word Inflation

PUNCTUATION

Brackets

Colon

Comma

Dash

Exclamation Point

Parentheses

Period

Question Mark

Quotation Marks

Quoting

Semicolon

Slash

SPELLING AND COMMON CONFUSIONS

Accept/Except

Accession/Ascension

Acetic/Ascetic/Aesthetic

Ad/Add

Adaptation/Adaption

Admittance/Admission

Adverse/Averse

Advise/Advice

Affect/Effect

Alibi/Excuse

All right/Alright

All together/Altogether

Allude/Refer

Allusion/Illusion/Delusion

A lot

Alternately/Alternatively

Although/But

Anecdote/Antidote

Anyway/Anyways

Apoplectic/Epileptic

Arctic/Antarctic

Assure/Ensure/Insure

Astronomer/Astrologer

Bazaar/Bizarre

Bear/Bare

Bias/Biased

Biweekly

Burnt/Learnt

Callus/Callous

Canadian/American/British Spelling

Career/Careen

Cavalry/Calvary

Ceed/Sede/Cede

Censor/Censure

Changeable/Solvable

Chauvinist/Sexist

Childish/Childlike

Choose/Chose

Climactic/Climatic

Compare To/With

Complement/Compliment

Comprise/Constitute/Compose

Compulsive/Impulsive

Condone

Confidant/Confident

Consequently/Subsequently

Contemptible/Contemptuous

Continuous/Continued

Copyright/Copywriter

Corps/Corpse

Decent/Descent

Definite/Definitive

Denote/Connote

Desert/Dessert

Different from/than

Discover/Invent

Discriminating/Discriminatory

Disinterested/Uninterested

Dissociate/Disassociate

Distrust/Mistrust

Dived/Dove

Egoism/Egotism

Elicit/Illicit

Empathize/Sympathize

Enormous/Enormity

Envisage/Envision

Etc.

Farther/Further

Fatal/Fateful

Fix/Repair

Flagging/Lagging

Flammable/Inflammable

Flaunt/Flout

Foreword/Forward

Former/Latter

Fortuitous/Gratuitous

Founder/Flounder

Fulsome

Gamut/Gantlet/Gauntlet

Got/Gotten

Hanged/Hung

Hark/Harp on

Historic/Historical

Hyphenated Words

Ie/Ei

Immigrate/Emigrate

In Camera

Incidence/Incident/Instance

In Contrast/On the Contrary

Incredible/Incredulous

Infer/Imply

It’s/Its

Jibe/Jive

Leach/Leech

Lead/Led

Lend/Borrow

Liable/Apt/Likely

Libel/Slander

Lie/Lay/Lie

Loath/Loathe

Loose/Lose

Majority/Plurality

Martial/Marital

Misspell/Misspeak

Momentarily/Presently/Currently

Moot

Nauseous/Nauseated

Nickel

Nouns ending in or

Obtuse/Abstruse

Once in a While

Orient/Orientate

Parameter

Paranoid

Parish/Perish

Passed/Past

Pedal/Peddle

Percent/Percentage/Proportion

Perpetrate/Perpetuate

Personal/Personnel

Personal/Personalized

Persons/People

Plus/And

Practicable/Practical

Prescribe/Proscribe

Principal/Principle

Prosecute/Persecute

Proved/Proven

Quiet/Quite

Regardless/Irregardless

Requisite/Prerequisite

Residents/Residence

Roman Numerals

Site/Cite/Sight

Sound Alikes (Homonyms)

Spayed/Spade

Stalactite/Stalagmite

Stationary/Stationery

Subtle/Subtly/Subtlety

Thank you

They’re/There/Their

Toward/Towards

Transpire

Try to/Try and

Two/To/Too

Unique

Unthaw/Dethaw

Used to/Used to

Verbal/Oral/Aural

Weather/Whether

Welsh/Welch

Who’s/Whose

Worried/Worrisome

Would of/Could of

You’re/Your

PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION

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Welcome to the third edition of Grammar to Go: The Portable A–Zed Guide to Canadian Usage, which contains 25 new entries and updated explanations and examples. What’s Canadian about it? Well, the pronunciation of Z, for one thing, but since Canadian English usage is not identical with either American or British usage, especially in spelling, vocabulary, and punctuation, these differences are pointed out in the explanations. The new entries address persistent questions that have arisen since the last edition. For example, guidelines are provided for composing e-mail, presenting lists, and eliminating high carb phrases. Another new entry offers pointers for the use of inclusive language, and the numerous uses of the slash are now included in the Punctuation section.

Of course perennial puzzlers, like it’s and its and who and whom, are still included, because they continue to cause writers trouble. Similarly, there’s still lots of confusion about how to form the possessive of nouns (see Possessive Case) — and who can remember when to write numbers as figures and not words? In total, answers to these and 225 more questions are provided in this new edition.

A completely new feature is the inclusion of brief quizzes, anecdotes, and quotations related to language, which are interspersed throughout the book. These are meant to both enlighten and entertain, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I (do).

The goal of Grammar to Go, however, remains the same as it was with the two previous editions: to provide easy-to-understand answers to common questions of grammar and usage. No one can be expected to remember every detail of correct usage. For academic success and career advancement, however, it is important to use the language correctly, which is why conscientious writers habitually refer to dictionaries and guidebooks like this one.

Those of you already familiar with the book’s design will notice that it has been reorganized to make it even easier to use. The four original headings have been retained, but Spelling and Common Confusions are now combined so that the book contains three sections instead of four. Entries under each of these sections now appear alphabetically within the section. This more consolidated approach means, for example, that all entries related to Punctuation are now together in one location.

In the Contents, when entries for Grammar and Style are identified by their grammatical term they are often accompanied by a familiar example. Page references have been retained.

Grammar to Go is not a comprehensive treatment of grammar, style, punctuation or spelling, nor is it the last word on any of these subjects, but that is not what most writers are looking for. I hope you will enjoy this book and find it useful, and may it stimulate you to learn even more about our language.

— Rob Colter

Toronto

September 2005

My thanks to everyone at Anansi,

both past and present,

for their support.

GRAMMAR AND STYLE

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Grammar: that dreaded word. Who hasn’t shuddered at the thought of having to learn it? Ask for a definition of boring, and this would be near the top of the list. Why? Because it’s usually taught like math is taught — all rules and no fun. But writing (like golf or carpentry) is a skill, and you need some knowledge and a lot of practice to become good at it. If you think of it this way, then avoiding a sentence fragment will become as relevant as avoiding 3-putts in your golf game.

If grammar embodies the fundamentals of the game, then style describes the way you play it. Are your sentences smooth or awkward? Do you care whether impact is a poor choice as a verb, or that hopefully does not mean, I hope? Do you express yourself clearly and effectively, making every word and sentence count?

Leaders on Grammar

Even Kings must obey the laws of grammar.

— MOLIÈRE (1622–1673)

I will not go down to posterity talking bad grammar.

— BENJAMIN DISRAELI (1804–1881)

I stand by all the misstatements that I’ve made.

— GOVERNOR GEORGE W. BUSH (1946–)

ADMIT

When used to mean confess, it is never followed by to.

He admitted his mistake.

He admits having done it.

He admits it.

ADVERBS (GO SLOW)

Some people get awfully bugged because GO SLOW signs do not read Go Slowly, but as a combined warning to go slow and slow down, they convey the intended message, even to strict grammarians.

DRIVE CAREFUL (be careful when you drive) is less defensible, in speech do it right is barely okay, and phrases like awful bugged, real hungry, do it gentle, wash it good, and take it slow are really lousy.

Just remember that words that describe verbs (and adjectives and other adverbs) almost always end in ly. Well, very, and fast are common exceptions. (And so is well.)

AMONG/BETWEEN

"Between two, among three or more is a useful rule worth remembering. However, when the interaction between individual members of a group is stressed, between, not among, is the sensible word. Thus, an agreement between (many) nations, since each agrees with the other, is more forceful than the rather vague among nations."

AMOUNT/NUMBER

Certain things can be counted and they have plural forms; certain things cannot be counted and they don’t have plural forms.

For countables, use number; for uncountables, use amount.

The number of cars . . .

The amount of time, beer, wine, etc.

When these are misused — the amount of people — it makes you wonder why this is any easier than saying it the right way.

Note:

The number of carpenters is increasing.

But:

A number of carpenters are eating lunch outside.